Russia provided Saddam Hussein with intelligence on US military moves in the opening days of the US-led invasion in 2003, a Pentagon report has said.
The report also said Saddam Hussein's inept military leadership was a key factor in the defeat of his forces.

The unclassified report said Russia had passed on the intelligence through its ambassador in Baghdad.

But it said one piece of intelligence passed on was false, and had had in fact helped a key US deception effort.

Baghdad 'blunder'

The false intelligence concerned the date the US was likely to start its main attack on Baghdad.

A document from the Iraqi foreign minister to Saddam Hussein, dated 2 April 2003, and quoting Russian intelligence, said the attack would not begin until the Army's 4th Infantry Division arrived around 15 April.

This reinforced an impression that the US military were trying to create, in order to catch Iraqis by surprise, the Pentagon report said.

In fact, the attack on the Iraqi capital began well before the 4th Division arrived, and the city fell about a week before 15 April.

Diversion tactic

Russian intelligence also had fed Iraqi suspicions that the main US invasion force coming from Kuwait was actually a diversion, the report said.

The same Iraqi memo said that US troops were moving to cut off Baghdad from the south, east and north.

"Significantly, the (Iraqi) regime was also receiving intelligence from the Russians that fed suspicions that the attack out of Kuwait was merely a diversion," the report said.

'Saddam's interference'

The report painted a picture of an Iraqi government blind to the threat from the US-led invasion, and hamstrung by Saddam Hussein's inept military leadership.

"The largest contributing factor to the complete defeat of Iraq's military forces was the continued interference by Saddam (Hussein)," it said.

The 210-page report - Iraqi Perspectives Project - aims to help US officials understand in hindsight how the Iraqi military prepared for and fought during the invasion.